


The Heart of the Family

by mrspadrona



Series: The 'Auana Club [18]
Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Angst, Future Fic, Gen, Kid Fic, M/M, Mention of Character Death
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-13
Updated: 2018-10-15
Packaged: 2018-10-31 07:37:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,642
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10894740
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mrspadrona/pseuds/mrspadrona
Summary: Almost one hundred years have passed and a box is dug up.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know where this came from. Albert was chewing on my brain stem and this wouldn't go away.  
> I don't know that I love it ... but Albert refused to allow me to write anything else until this was done.

“What do you think it could be?” Elisa Matthews asked her husband. They’d been remodeling their backyard and had brought in a landscaper, which had cleared the first three feet of earth a few days ago, only to discover a box buried in the ground. The box itself looked old, possibly made from koa wood, but was intact. There was an inscription, or an engraving, of some kind on the lid but it was impossible to make out what it said through the dirt.

“No idea, Lis. Maybe it’s ancient Hawaiian voodoo,” her husband replied absently. He hadn’t been as curious about the box as Elisa had been and would have been just as happy to throw it away as to clean it up. Elisa had been the one to take the box into the house and start looking for something to clean the lid with.

“Hawaiians don’t practice voodoo, Nathan.”

“Hawaiians practice all kinds of things. I still don’t know why we’re here,” came her husband’s response. She rolled her eyes at him and smiled indulgently, refusing to take the bait.

“We’re here because it’s our assignment. Now that the war is over, setting up diplomatic relations with Hawaii is crucial to our continued presence in the Pacific,” she explained for the hundredth time. Elisa Matthews had been invited to Hawaii, a newly sovereign nation, in order to establish a relationship with the native population. When the war had started, Hawaii had been one of the United States but after the heavy losses to the mainland, the remaining parts of the union had fallen apart and Hawaii had declared its sovereignty. That had been five years ago and what remained of the United States was starting to rebuild it’s foreign relations.

“Didn’t mean we had to move here, Lis. You could have commuted.”

She rolled her eyes again and turned her attention back to the box. She’d found a soft bristle brush in the garage and had put the box onto the counter so she could sweep the dirt from the top. The box looked to be quite old so Elisa was mindful of how carefully she pushed the dirt over the edges of the box and cleared the top to reveal a simple lock, engraved with a date.

27 June 2023

A few more strokes of the brush revealed the name “ace” and Elisa’s interest was piqued. “Nathan, this box is almost a hundred years old!”

A non-committal grunt sounded in response. Sometimes, Elisa wondered why he stayed; she’d been hoping he’d refuse to follow her to Hawaii but he’d surprised her. When they’d first contracted, he’d found the nomadic life of a diplomat exciting but after the first three years, he’d been more and more difficult about each move. She’d given up an assignment to the northern domain last year because Nathan hadn’t wanted to leave Amexico. She tuned him out, carefully sweeping more and more of the dirt away and revealing more of the inscription.

27 June 2023  
Dominic & Grace Robustelli

Elisa paused, a memory of something she’d seen in passing while researching the ruling family of Hawaii, Ali’i ‘Auana. If her memory was correct, there was a Robustelli mentioned along the line of the current Queen. Immediately, she put the brush down and turned to her iDevice to bring up her contact at the Palace. It took three rings before her call was answered.

“Aloha, Elisa. Aren’t you off today?” The warm, welcoming voice came through to her earpiece.

“Aloha yourself, Paul. I think I need you to come to my house with someone from the Royal Archives.” Elisa didn’t want to step even a toe out of line with this discovery.

Immediately the casual friendliness was gone, replaced by professional interest. “Why? Did you find something?”

“I think I did, actually.”

##

“Ali’i, I am honoured beyond words to be here in the Palace. Thank you so much for inviting me,” Elisa bowed before the Ali’i. Her entire body was vibrating with excitement and it took every bit of self control she had to not dance like a giddy school girl. It had been six months since she’d discovered the box in her backyard and she’d been invited to the Palace to meet with the Queen and to discuss the box and it’s significance. It had been a huge honour, the first mainlander to be in the presence of the Ali’i since the War had started.

“I wanted to thank you personally, Ms. Matthews. What you found … I don’t think I can do justice to explain what you found. When the war started, so many things were lost. Between bombings, fires, Kilauea erupting, and a million other things, my family had lost track of this box. We knew it was on the island but we had no record of where.” The Queen’s voice was full of joy and gratefulness and Elisa started when she felt the small hand on her shoulder. Looking up, the Ali’i of Hawaii was standing beside her, offering a hug. Elisa was pretty sure she was about to pass out from the experiences.

“Walk with me, I’d like to show you something,” the Queen invited and Elisa nodded. She was led through a door to the side of the room and led outside into a lush and verdant garden. There were a dozen or so people, ranging from what appeared to be a newborn to a woman whose skin had taken on an almost papery look. The Queen led Elisa towards the older woman, whose eyes had brightened considerably as she saw Elisa.

“This is my Great Aunt Grace. She is the oldest member of our family and I thought you might like to meet someone who had seen the box in her lifetime. My Auntie Grace is almost a century old.”

Elisa didn’t know whether to bow, hug, or just stand still but thankfully Grace made up her mind for her and reached out with all the warmth Elisa had come to expect of the Hawaiian people. Grace gestured towards the seat beside her.

“I’m sure my niece has expressed her thanks but I wanted to also thank you. The box itself has no real value outside of sentimentality or the price of the wood but what’s inside is what we have been trying to find,” Grace said, pulling her iDevice and flipping through to her photos. Elisa watched as the images fluttered past, faster than she could keep track of, the images getting older and older until finally they came to a halt. It was an image that had been taken so long ago, the people in the picture had started to fade before someone had preserved the image. It was a young couple standing in front of a large house, holding an infant each. The woman had dark brown hair that hung down her back in a braid and the man stood at least a foot taller, with black hair. He had his arm around the woman’s shoulders and they were looking at each other with so much love even Elisa could feel it.

“This is one of the few pictures I have of my father. His name was Dominic Robustelli the Fourth, but everyone just called him Nicky. The man holding him is his father, Dominic Robustelli the Third and that’s his wife, Grace. I was named for my grandmother. She’s holding my aunt Malia.” The image fluttered again and this time, the image showed an older version of the couple. They were both sitting on a motorcycle, Grace behind Dominic, and their smiles were unmistakable.

“This is the very first motorcycle ever to come out of a Harley Davidson factory with the new engine design that my grandmother engineered. Prior to the Robust Engine redesign, almost every motorcycle had the larger, bulkier fuel injection system or the even bulkier carburetors. My grandfather helped to design the body frame and my grandmother designed the engine. The bike was call-”

“The Wolf!” Elisa interrupted, blushing immediately after her outburst and hearing quite a few people chuckle.

“Yes, that’s it exactly. My grandmother always called him her wolf and he called her his regina. When I was quite young, I would play at their house with my brothers and sisters and cousins and I can remember so many good and positive things about the whole family. My great grandfathers were still alive and so very much in love. Your house is where their house was before the war. This box was buried in my great-grandfathers’ backyard,” Grace informed her, smiling wistfully.

The Queen opened the box and, inside Elisa could see a large rock, a pair of wedding rings, and what appeared to be a lei of some age.

The images flickered and an even older image appeared. This one showed Grace and Dominic at what appeared to be their wedding. They were standing face to face, each wearing a lei over their necks and another wrapped around their arms. There was a hum and suddenly, the image began to move. The sound wasn’t great but you could still make out what was being said.

_“Dominic you came into my life when I was so young, I still had to roll up the sleeves on my coveralls. Without knowing anything about me, you protected me and brought five Wolves that have become my brothers, as much as they have become my protectors. You gave me safety and sanctuary, fitting into my life in a way that I hadn’t even realized I needed yet. I think I fell in love with you the first time you showed me your fangs in that back driveway in Newark but I knew I was in love by the time you followed me to Hawaii. We have been through so much and always, I have known you were there right beside me and that you had my back. I promise you that I will always protect your back, share with you everything in my life, remind you to put gas in your bike and love you without reservation for all the rest of my days. Nāu wau a na'u `oe, mau loa. I am yours and you are mine, forever. Together or not at all.”_

The look on Dominic’s face melted Elisa’s heart and she was even more intrigued as to how the box and the rings were in the ground. She watched another minute before the image fluttered again. This time the image contained several people, including a much younger version of the woman in front of her. There were two elderly men, one tall and broad with silvered hair and a wide smile and the other fully grey with warm blue eyes and a huge smile. They had their arms around each other and they were seated in a pair of chairs while the rest of the people stood around them. Grace pointed to the picture, putting names to faces.

“That’s my Danno, my great grandfather. He was Grace’s father, Danno Williams. Next to him is my great grandfather Pops. They met when Danno came to Hawaii in … ‘11, I think? They loved each other so much, for so long, we used to laugh that Pops couldn’t die because Danno was too stubborn to let him go. They both died in their sleep well into their eighties, about five years after the Wolf was released. They were buried together and their vests were put into the clubhouse.”

Elisa wanted to ask what she’d meant by clubhouse. The way it was being explained, it sounded like the ‘Auana had already been established as the royal family but that hadn’t really happened until near the end of the war. Grace must have seen her confusion and she laughed.

“The big family secret, Ms. Matthews. My great-grandparents were both full patch members of a motorcycle club,” Grace had a mischievous smile as she conspiratorially whispered, “Pops’ father started a motorcycle club in the 1960s and, when he died, my Uncle Chin took over. When Uncle Chin retired, my grandfather took it over. Danno and Pops said they were enjoying irresponsibility and my grandmother stood as his First Lady.”

“So, you mean like a motorcycle … gang?”

“Yes,” the Queen answered, chuckling. “Danno and Pops, Dominic the Third, Nicky, Auntie Mal and even Great Aunt Grace here. They all had criminal records. It was the life our family lived before the War. Once the War came is when our family’s criminal past became an asset for the people of Hawaii and a few of us volunteered to fight for Hawaii. Once we were fighting, those of us who remained behind on the island organized the war effort. We have a saying in our family. ‘We are the bone to support the muscle’. During Nonna Grace’s day, it was because females were not a part of the club but they enabled everything to run smoothly enough that the men could do what they needed to do. When the war came, both men and women went to fight and both men and women remained behind. We kept the house going, kept the family together. My mother was the first to start the discussion of sovereignty.”

“But this box was always special. It tied us to the island, my mother said. Because Nonna Grace and Papa Dominic, when they got married … well, you can see it for yourself.” The Queen nodded and the image went back to the wedding. Elisa watched, enraptured, as Dominic poured his heart out to Grace and her crying as she answered him. She watched as the silver haired man beside them pronounced them husband and wife and through to the ceremony of placing the rock and a leaf into the box and everyone throwing the dirt onto the box.

Elisa watched each speech, every smile, every joke and she began to understand how important the box was to the family. It was a tangible piece of their history, literally tying them to the island. She watched as Danno and Pops joked around, as they cried, as they laughed. She watched another video, this time of another wedding and Grace helpfully named “Uncle Freckles and Auntie Amelia”, “Uncle Wade and Uncle Tech”, and “Auntie Kono and Uncle Kawika”. She spent hours with the royal family as they told her stories of the original Grace and Dominic, the legend of their love and their successes. The Queen (named L’auna) sat with a myriad of children coming and going from her lap and Elisa realized everyone in the garden had come over to hear stories of “Nonna and Papa” and everyone added to the stories as the day wore on. By the end, Elisa wasn’t sure whether to believe half the stories or all of them but one thing was abundantly clear.

Dominic Robustelli and Grace Williams-McGarrett had a love that their entire Ohana aspired to. They’d had eight children (three sets of twins), who’d gone on to have thirty-seven grandchildren, fifty-one great-grandchildren, ninety-two great-great-grandchildren and, including the Queen herself, one hundred and seventeen great-great-great grandchildren. When Dominic became ill, Grace stood by his side and took care of him to the end of their days. Much like Danno and Pops, Grace and Dominic died together and their son Nicky took over as head of the club. It was the only time the box had been dug up; to add their wedding rings to the box and tie them even more strongly to the island. By then, the ‘Auana had become involved with politics and it was only another generation before the War started.

Elisa looked up as Grace finished telling the story of Uncle Wade handing Uncle Tech a gun, engraved with “Marry Me” and realized it was nearing dusk and it was time for dinner. She’d heard so many stories that had brought Grace and Dominic to life, she was almost sad to go home. But she also was looking forward to it. She’d made a decision.

#

Elisa Matthews stood beside her friend, L’auna, as they each dropped a handful of dirt onto the koa wood box that had been re-buried in her backyard. It had been two years since the box had been found and, during that time, Elisa had resigned from service to the States and taken a position within the ‘Auana household. She’d tracked down old maps, traced through hundreds of pieces of paper, and eventually had managed to determine where the Robustelli Compound had been. Once she’d stood on that ground, she swore that she could feel the love that had seeped into the very ground itself. Inside the half collapsed house had been a treasure trove of items, including the now infamous McGarrett Table (complete with 2 bullets and the names of the Robustelli children carved into the top) and, in a safe room under the stairs, the gold medal Grace had won in 2018. The garage, which had surprisingly withstood everything and was still standing, held the greatest treasure. Two motorcycles that were tucked away behind other items; Grace Robustelli’s original Fatboy and Dominic’s 78 shovelhead. They were sitting as though they were just waiting for someone to come along and start them … waiting for the time when Grace and Wolf would ride along the coast. Elisa ran her fingers over the now ancient machines and she could almost swear she heard a woman’s gentle laughter.

Now they were putting the heart of their family back into the ground, back into the same hole it had been in for 100 years. Each member of the royal house put a handful of dirt over the box and they re-tied themselves to the island. They were part of the island. Elisa was part of their Ohana.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's Betray802's fault ... she did this to you ... send her your love and adoration.

Doris opened her eyes and turned to look out at the sky; her heart clenching as she registered the red sky peeking out from behind the last strands of black. “Red sky at night, sailors delight; red sky at morning, sailors take warning.” She took a moment, a smile ghosting over her lips as she thought about her Danno Nicky. When she was little, he’d taken her running almost every morning and told her about her great-grandfathers, Danno and Pops. Pops had been a Navy SEAL, elevated to the rank of Lt Commander when he’d retired and Danno had been the right hand of the President of ‘Auana, back when it had still been an MC club. Together they set the groundwork in place for their daughter and son-in-law (Nonna and Papa) to maneuver the ‘Auana out from under the shadow of being an MC and into Hawaiian legend; not only opening up jobs for locals in Jersey Red’s garage chain but also for the overly-generous donations they made to the Kame schools, which enabled them to still be in operation. Danno Nicky told her that when Pops and Danno died, their funeral ride was the longest and most attended in island history, not just club history. There were people from the Navy, people from New Jersey, her cousins from New York, and (in an act that had been previously unheard of) even the Yakuza had attended to offer their condolences. Apparently, Pops had been brothers with someone named Wo Fat, who had moved to Japan when they were kids but reunited after Pops left the Navy. Not to mention all the locals who had attended out of respect for the work they had done for the islands.   
Doris threw back the blanket from her cot and pushed herself towards the showers; she could already hear the singing. She laughed as she stripped out of her t-strap undershirt and panties and she could hear Corporal Archevedies singing some old-fashioned song called “Uptown Funk”; the man just didn’t know his voice was a bass, not a soprano.  
“Arch! Save that shit for the other side, okay?” she called out as she entered the room and everyone stopped, coming to attention to salute and, for a second, Doris was confused. Then it rushed back at her … her promotion yesterday. She was officially the superior officer to her unit.   
“Okay, okay. How about we keep the shower saluting to below the belt, ya?”  
“Where do you hide your flag, Kala?”  
“If it were up your ass, you’d know where it was, Coakley,” she replied with a grin before stepping under the warm spray.   
Doris had been told from the time she’d been a baby that she was “just like Pops”. She’d loved surfing, running, and riding her bike; she was always moving. She’d even been named after his mother, Doris McGarrett. When she’d gone with her Mam to see where the Great Ships slept, she’d caught sight of a Marine at full attention and she’d been smitten. From that day on, Doris set her mind to joining the Marines and was proud to provide her signature to enroll in M.O.C.A. (Marine Officer Candidacy Admissions) twenty-five minutes after she completed her final year at school. M.O.C.A. was an intensive eighteen week program designed to assess each candidates abilities in everything from physical strength, endurance, health, mental acuity, and intelligence to stealth, weapons, and strategy. What she didn’t realize was how far her family connections went until she’d completed the course and she was offered the first ever placement of a female in the Marine Raiders. Apparently, one of her Reagan cousins had written a letter to the Marine Oversight Center, nominating her for placement and laid out a path of familial connection leading back to the 1900’s.   
She’d been in the Marines for three years when the Wars broke out.   
She’d been in for ten years when she went home to Hawaii, severing her ties to the United States as soon as Hawaii declared itself sovereign.   
Even being directly related to the Ali’i Auana, Doris had chosen life in the military to living at the family compound. She’d gone down to sign up for service as soon as her feet were on Hawaiian soil and now, two years later, she had her own unit of Koa and had been promoted to Kala, or Commander. Her life was a perfect balance between the family time she spent at her cousins home and her family of Hanau in the military. But she couldn’t shake off the feeling of dread that iced down her back all day long and, even when she tried to distract herself by going swimming off the Kay Bay Point, the feeling stayed. And it only grew worse as the day went on; her heart would start beating fast as though she were afraid but nothing had happened. She found herself absently rubbing at her ring finger, as though she were missing something. She couldn’t place it but all of her radar was on the alert.

***

The pain exploding through the middle of her chest stopped her dead in her tracks. Doris clutched at her chest, all her oxygen gone from her lungs, and collapsed. Thankfully she was at the base luau when it happened, so her Koa were there right away. They had her up in their arms and racing, as one unit, towards the med wing. Doris’ eyes started to water and she felt her heart breaking, as though she had just lost the single most important thing to her life. She sobbed, loudly, and the Koa stopped.  
“Kala?”  
“Im … I’m f … fine. I’m fine,” Doris insisted through her tears, “I don’t know why I’m crying.”  
She took several deep breaths as they put her down on her feet and she managed to get control of her emotions. She rubbed at her chest, breathing past the pain until it was in the back of her mind and she could ignore it. Wiping at her eyes, she managed a watery laugh.  
“I do believe each of you just experienced my yearly dosage of emotion.”  
“You’re three months too early. You had emotion back in the spring, too. Remember when we were in that fuckin nowhere desert and that American kid was yelling your name? You showed emotion then, too,” Hanamoa piped up, reminding her of the time she’d run into a Reagan cousin when they were supposed to be spying on each other. She’d been in her tent, about to collapse into her cot when she’d heard that nasal accent yelling her name and she’d come running out. She threw herself at her cousin Edit and they’d laughed and hugged and generally confused her entire hanau.   
“Emotional outbursts that are due to seeing a cousin you hadn’t seen in almost a decade, despite country allegiances, do not count towards my yearly allowance.”  
She walked with her unit back to the luau and spent the rest of the night ignoring her chest, her left ring finger, and the panic that seemed to almost creep in.

***

“Hey, Robustelli, come see this,” Arch bellowed from where he was watching something on the television.   
Doris came out to the main room, ready to chew Arch out for yelling loud enough to wake up the entire unit, and stopped dead for the second time. The image on the screen showed a massive fire racing across the Punchbowl as a volcano erupted from it’s center. The fire had already consumed the American cemetery where the Great Ships men and women rested and it was angling along the rim towards … her heart stopped.  
For the second time today, she broke out in tears, but this time it was understandable. The sacred house, where the Ali’i Auana had lived, was gone. There was nothing left in it’s wake save for dust and ash. The sacred house … where Danno and Pops had lived … where the Heart of the House lived … where their family was rooted to the island … gone.  
Her sadness was her own but she also felt the icy fingers in her spine loosening, leaving a cold feeling in her chest. Now she understood.  
The island had tried to warn her about the Sacred House.  
When she did not listen, the island obeyed itself.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is out of the blue but I'm sure @Betray802 probably inspired it.

“I have something for you. Something for your wedding.”

Lu’ana turned her head and smiled as the elderly woman spoke. Spending time with Tutu Grace was something she held precious, and she knew that time was coming to an end. Papa Dominic had gone to the ancestors last year, and the whole family knew that Grace would follow her Wolf soon. Her health had started declining right after he’d passed, and she’d gone steadily downhill from there. She still found time for the things she enjoyed, such as helping her keiki in the private garage or watching them surf off Pipeline, but the amount of time she was able to spend was shorter and shorter, by the day. Lu’ana sat down with the Robustelli family and volleyed the idea of pushing the wedding up by six months, to ensure Tutu Grace could be there. Her future in-laws had agreed immediately and began making plans to get everything rushed.

Lu’ana had grown up on the island, and certainly knew how well known the ‘Auana was, but this was her first time experiencing their influence first hand. When the luau they had booked for their reception wasn’t available on the new date, Lu’ana began hunting for another venue. They couldn’t have the reception at the family home because a storm had recently devastated the property and they were in the midst of cleaning it up. Five hours after she’d learned the luau wasn’t available, she got a phone call from the curator of the Iolani Palace. They offered to host her reception at their Royal Gardens for the same price as she’d been paying for the luau. The Royal Gardens! As a joke, she’d looked up what the price would be for that when they’d first gotten engaged, and the sheer amount of zeros in that price had made her twitchy. And now, it was being offered for a price that was unheard of. Another surprise came with her caterer, Kame Eats. They were like family, and she’d known straight off they would be catering her wedding, but when she found out they had turned down another wedding in favor of hers, and taking a significant financial hit to do so, she’d actually cried with joy. All the little things came together, and now here she was less than twenty-four hours from her wedding. She didn’t know how it all came together, but she was grateful that it had. She and her future husband had come to visit Tutu Grace as usual, but it was Tutu who had the surprise.

Lu’ana watched as the matriarch of their family stood and made her way to the safe room under the stairs. It was where the most important and cherished items from their family were stored. When she returned, she was carrying a box that was yellow with age and stained at the edges. She put the box in front of Lu’ana and took her seat once again. Lu’ana’s eyes filled with tears; she knew this box. It had been whispered about at every turn, but she didn’t know if she’d be allowed the privilege. After all, she wasn’t blood-related, and she’d heard that only Robustelli women wore it.

“When I got married to my Wolf, someone very special … a woman I loved and respected to the marrow of my bone … she gave this to me for my wedding. I know everyone has probably told you the story already so I’ll spa-,” Tutu Grace began, but Lu’ana interrupted.

“Please don’t. I would love to hear the story.”

Tutu Grace smiled and reached over to take her hand.

“Malia Kelly was married to my uncle, Chin Ho Kelly. They were Ohana, from the first day I met them when I was nine years old, to right this moment. Malia was a surrogate mother, a mentor, a powerhouse of a woman, and one of the gentlest souls I have ever known.”

Tutu Grace’s eyes were misty with tears, and Lu’ana was a little confused. Everyone had always told her the veil had been in the family for at least four generations before Tutu Grace came into possession of it. She was about to ask when Tutu winked and continued speaking, “Malia was not related by blood, but by heart. And, when mio lupo asked me to marry him,, she was one of the first to see my engagement ring, even before Danno. I had gotten into a fight earlier and broke a bone in my hand. She helped to set the bone so it would heal straight.” Lu’ana couldn’t stop the laugh that escaped her lips. Tutu Grace was well known across most of Hawaii, not just O’ahu, for having a vicious roundhouse kick and an even more deadly left hook. When she stopped laughing, Tutu Grace continued, smiling broadly.

“She was there to help me learn how to be a First Lady, how to set an example for the women who married into Auana, and how to love my husband fiercely. She taught me how to embody Ohana,” Tutu Grace’s smile faltered as she continued to speak, a slight hitch in her voice. “Before Dominic and I could marry, she became sick. Early onset dementia. Uncle Chin did everything he could, and the Club came together to help ease both of their burdens, but she was too sick to come to our wedding. Uncle Chin had to move her to a home where she could be monitored constantly, and we lost her shortly after the wedding. For all my heart, she was so much like my mother.”

Lu’ana’s heart broke for the woman in front of her. Grace Robustelli had always embodied everything that was strength and kindness. She was the matriarch of the family, not afraid to speak her mind and share what she knew. Grown men … grizzled criminals and terrifying women … even they kept a respectful tone in their mouths when interacting with her. To see the pain in her dark brown eyes as she spoke of Malia Kelly was a shot in the heart. She reached forward and embraced Tutu Grace, feeling the woman’s strength diminishing almost with every breath. Tears threatened to fall from her eyes, and she fought them back because she wanted to hear the rest. She wanted to know more about Malia.

Once she seemed to have control over her emotions once again, Tutu Grace leaned back with a smile and motioned to the box. Lu’ana’s hands were shaking as she lifted the lid and she got her first glimpse of the lace. It was ivory with age but silken to the touch. A bit longer than what was considered fashionable now, but Lu’ana couldn’t imagine anything more perfect. The detailing along the edges was so delicate, she doubted a machine could have ever created something so perfect. The pins had been recently replaced, and she knew it would suspiciously fit her haku perfectly. When she felt a soft thumb against her eye, she realized Tutu Grace was wiping at her tears.

“I don … I don’t know what to say. Tutu … this is for Robustelli wom-,” she began, stopping herself short when a glimpse of Grace Fuckin Robustelli made an appearance in the cock of her eyebrow.

“You’re marrying my Ben. That makes you a Robustelli woman. And, should you have children of your own, you will hopefully pass this veil on to them.”

##

Three weeks after the wedding, Grace Williams-McGarrett Robustelli joined her husband in the hereafter. She passed in her sleep, a peaceful smile on her lips, with her hair fanned out beside her like a crown.

Ten months later, Grace Ali’i Robustelli was born to Lu’ana and Ben Robustelli.

And the family continued.


End file.
